To fill you in on the backstory, I was 19 and had been working a job in corporate security for a global bank for probably close to a year at that point. I LOVED the job. It was challenging, it was interesting, I really liked my boss and I was shocked to learn when I was hired that my starting pay would be $17 an hour. I thought I had hit the jackpot with this new position, but it was unfortunately short lived. My boss was a higher level manager of the corporate security department and I learned SO much from him. I felt trusted, respected and comfortable with him. We worked long hours and were often in the office when no one else was around. It allowed us some peace and quiet to get things situated before the phones started ringing and folks started knocking on his door needing his assistance or input.

There was another manager in our department who was lower-level, but still definitely above me and had a good relationship with our boss. They both worked their way up the corporate ladder into very successful positions within this company. The other manager, we'll call him "C", clearly was a bit intimidated by our boss but was also very friendly with him from years of working together. My boss was probably in his late 40's or early 50's and the other manager was in his early 30's I believe. Initially, after being introduced to "C", I was excited to have what I felt was another ally in this scary new corporate world I had entered. He was a bit more relaxed while my boss was incredibly formal in his approaches to everything he did.

My initial impression of C was that he was a nice guy, but able to be menacing when he wanted to be. He was much larger than me (5'7) at probably 6'3 or 6'4 with a broad build. He told me that because of his role in the company, he was allowed to use violence as a last resort if necessary. He shared once, almost gleefully, how he had essentially choke-slammed a woman for hiding in a bathroom and refusing to leave after being terminated from the company. He seemed so strangely proud that he was able to forcefully remove her from the premises, though by his own account of the situation she was not a very large person and he could have easily found another way to get her to move. That stood out to me as strange and kind of scary, but I didn't think too much of it at first because I was new to corporate security and didn't quite understand what his role entailed.

At first, C seemed like he wanted to be a friend to me. He'd stop by my desk and bring me coffee on days when he knew I hadn't been able to move for a while, he'd ask questions about my life and my weekend and seemed genuinely interested in my answers. I was grateful to have him as someone I could go to with my questions about corporate culture since it was my first time in a corporate position. Then, things slowly started to change. At first, it was the staring. I'd catch him staring at me during meetings and I'd return his gaze thinking he wanted to catch my attention for a reason, but he'd simply continue to stare and smile in my direction. I shook it off and assumed I was misunderstanding the situation. C had a beautiful fiance who he talked about often. I was young and insecure about my looks and my body, though looking back now I can see I had no reason to be. I assumed he couldn't possibly be interested in me, because I had seen his fiance and she was gorgeous, smart and talented. It felt silly to even think he'd be giving me a second look when he had someone so great in his life.

He went from staring in my direction, to staring at my body in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. He'd stare at my chest or legs intensely, and when I'd look back to see if it would break his stare, he'd look me in the eyes and smile or lick his lips suggestively. I remember this happening in a meeting once and I looked around to see if anyone was paying attention, but they weren't. Everyone else was focused on the topic of discussion while C was focused on me. I didn't know how to handle this, so when it happened I'd just look away or focus back on the meeting or my notes. Things quickly began to escalate from there. His visits to my desk to bring me coffee were no longer pleasant visits for me. Many times, I wouldn't even know he was there until I felt his body brush up against my shoulders. He'd stand so close to my chair and would hover there until I noticed and turned around. I later learned he enjoyed this view especially because it allowed him to fantasize about me "being on my knees in front of him".

C began stopping by my desk daily. He'd do his creepy hover move sometimes, other times he'd come up and whisper into my ear something like "your tits look great in that sweater" or "I want to fuck you SO hard right now". I honestly did not know how to respond. At first I'd try to laugh it off, but it was clear he wasn't making jokes so I would just look down at the ground and try to act like I couldn't hear him, though obviously I could since he was whispering directly into my ear. In addition to the gross behavior towards me, C also started making repeated comments about how his job was secure at this company and mine wasn't. If I argued with him about business topics, he'd quickly shut me down and remind me that he outranked me and if I didn't do as he said he'd tell my boss and my job would be terminated quickly. It wasn't hard to imagine that if I didn't like his non-business related behavior the same rules would apply.

C received a promotion that gave him a large office in a new building. Our boss had been moved to another location, and my role had transitioned to the building and area where C worked. The building we were working in was much less occupied and had us stationed behind a receptionist area that wasn't always staffed. I had a comically tiny office (that was once a closet, no joke) and C had a large office at the very end of the same hall. Now, instead of just coming up behind my desk and standing closely, he'd come into my closet-sized office and close the door behind him. He'd rub my shoulders and act grossly sweet and complimentary towards me, but if I pulled away at all his tone would change quickly. He'd take his hands off of me and his face would go from pretend friend to angry manager. If I rebuffed his advances he'd yell at me for something work related and storm out.

I began to dread going into the office each day because I never knew which version of C I was going to encounter. Would he be all work and act cold towards me, or would he be sweet yet inappropriate? I didn't want to lose the job I had or the money it was paying me, because I had recently moved into a rental house with my sister and had agreed to take on a larger chunk of the financial responsibility since her job paid much less. This wasn't the first time I had been sexually harassed in a workplace, so I felt I had no choice but to stick it out and hope it didn't get worse. Up until that point, the worst thing he had done was rub my shoulders and say disgusting things. I figured I could handle more of that if it allowed me to keep moving up in the company and eventually get away from him.

As you can imagine, his behavior didn't magically improve overnight, instead it continued to get worse. He commented on my clothing and body on an almost daily basis, though he went from being exclusively complimentary at first to being mean at times. If I tried to wear anything that made me feel like I could hide more of my body, he'd comment on how disgusting it looked and remind me which sweaters and types of pants he liked me to wear. He'd grope my breasts and press himself up against me whenever he felt he could do it without anyone noticing. There were a few times where he grabbed his genitals and with an angry tone in his voice he'd tell me to look at what I had done to him. It was such a confusing time for me. I wanted to get away from him but I felt stuck. What would I do if I couldn't work there? Without a college education my starting pay at most jobs wasn't anywhere near a livable wage that could cover the rent I was responsible for. I had bills to pay and just kept telling myself that if I could stick it out I'd eventually be in a position where I wouldn't have to deal with him ever again.

I think one of the worst aspects of this situation was that I started a new relationship while I was at this job, with a guy who I thought was sweet, sensitive and caring. Unfortunately, he was an alcoholic and was abusive himself. In fact, the first time I told him I loved him, he slapped me in the face because I wasn't making eye contact with him while I did it. That's another story for another day, so I won't get into it too much now. I remember telling him once that I was uncomfortable at work and didn't know what to do. His response was very dismissive and made me feel even more like I was overreacting. I hadn't really talked to anyone else about what was going on, and without any kind of validation that what I was experiencing was wrong, I felt again like I was just stuck in a shitty situation and if I could work hard enough I'd be able to get myself out of it.

One day at work, I was in the middle of a meeting with my boss when we were interrupted by C. He informed our boss that some higher ups wanted to talk to him and they left quickly together. An hour passed with me not knowing what I should do next, when C came back into the meeting room I was working in. He came over to where I was sitting, leaned over me and whispered "you're all mine now" then stood up and said clearly and in a very businesslike tone "Our boss has been let go because he was caught stealing from the company. I have been moved into his position and will be taking on his responsibilities from this point on." He walked out, leaving me at the table panicking over what that might mean for me.

The next day at work, I was grateful to learn I'd be taking on a special assignment working with another woman in our department. We'll call her "F". F was someone I had admired for some time. She was direct and somewhat intimidating, even folks in higher positions watched the way they worded things when dealing with her. F had an important role in our department and was quite particular about how she operated. Most folks had to fight tooth and nail to get even the smallest of desks allocated to their departments, yet F had two massive cubicles joined together to form her work space. Her desk area was larger than a lot of the offices in the building. I was assigned to work with her, at another station in her office area, for a few weeks. During my time working with her, I saw how even C would behave cautiously around her. She seemed to really have some pull in the company and had been there a long time.

After working together for a while, I felt like I had finally found the friend that I once believed C was going to be. F was smart, witty and compassionate. I really liked her and I looked forward to work every day during that assignment. We'd take turns putting on different music for each other and we'd take our lunch breaks together to chat. After some time working together, I started thinking that maybe I could ask her how to handle my situation with C. I was nervous, but one day when F was in a great mood, I decided to ask for help. I called out to her from across our now shared space: "F, I need to talk to you about something." "Sure thing, what's up?" was her reply, her back still turned to me as she worked. "Well, I want to talk to you about C." I quickly detailed some of the ways he was acting inappropriately, and how incredibly uncomfortable I was when he was around. What felt like an eternity passed by without her even turning around in her seat to respond. Then came the sigh. A deep, exhausted sigh. She maintained her focus on the papers in front of her and simply responded by saying "It's a man's world." while shaking her head slowly and that was it. I was dumbfounded. We continued on with our work and nothing else about it was mentioned again.

When I returned back to my regular work area near C's office, I was quickly reminded that I needed to get the fuck out of that job, fast. On one of my first days back, he cornered me in the hallway while the receptionist was gone. He backed up up against the wall and leaned against it with one arm on either side of my head. He was looking me up and down slowly while breathing heavily, his face incredibly close to mine. I was frantically looking around for any other people but knew the office was likely empty based on the time of day. My eyes moved up towards the security cameras, hoping that they were catching all of this behavior that he normally kept behind closed doors. C saw me looking at the cameras and grinned. "Do you know who designed the security system for this building? I did. I know exactly where each camera points and what their field of view is. They can't see us here." The phone at the empty receptionist desk rang and I rushed past him to answer it, grateful for a break. He went back to his office and I didn't see him for the rest of the day.

That night I told my boyfriend that I needed to quit. I told him about the incident and how scared I was about leaving, because it meant going back to the offices to drop off my company phone and security access badges. I told him how C had made it clear that he knew exactly where all the cameras were and that he wasn't afraid to use violence against women, then asked him if he would go with me to drop off my things. He responded by telling me that I really needed to learn how to face my fears or I'd never get ahead in life. This man who was supposed to be my loving boyfriend, refused to help protect me against a man I was scared of, yet had no issues with putting his own hands on women when he was angry. A true coward if I've ever seen one.

Without his support, I decided I'd go to the office super early the next day, in hopes that C wouldn't be there, knowing the majority of the office would be empty. At nearly 4 am the following morning, I walked into the office with a large envelope containing all of my work items they'd need in order to process my departure and pay me what I was owed. I had put all my things on my desk along with a note saying "I quit" and turned to walk out the door when a large figure walked into the dimly lit reception area, blocking my path to the doors leading to the parking lot. It was C. I froze. He noticed me not wearing work attire and asked what I was doing, his tone as cool as the early morning air. I mumble-shouted my response at him from a distance, telling him I hated working for him and that I was leaving. He started walking towards me with purposeful strides, anger now visible on his face, I unfroze just in time to run past him and out the doors. As soon as I made it past the doors I felt such immense relief. I knew that the parking lot cameras were covering me and I was safe, finally.

If you've read all the way to this point, you're probably wondering why I'm even sharing this. The reason I'm sharing is so more of you can understand why it is SO fucking hard to come forward at times. I'm so tired of seeing women torn down and mocked over not coming forward after suffering through harassment or assault. This story, my story, is only ONE of many other instances where I was in a position where my ability to live and pay my bills were directly threatened by me asking for support while being harassed. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one. For many of us, we've endured countless jobs and relationships where we were treated inappropriately or even assaulted or abused, only to find that we were the ones who were penalized for speaking the truth.

The next time you see a someone come forward to share details of their traumatic experiences, rather than ask "why now?" try imagining how hard it must have been to speak up. Try imagining just how bad it must have been for them to actually be willing to put themselves out there and speak their truth, knowing full well they would almost certainly have their own names dragged through the mud or even have their lives threatened in some cases. This shit is HARD. I have tried to stand up for myself and my fellow women time and time again, and each time I feel like we've made zero progress. Instead of the men who hurt us being questioned, WE were. Instead of the men who acted wrongly being punished, we were. I reported a man for harassment at a restaurant I worked at once and my hours were cut in response because he was a cook and they "needed him more". I told former friends about abusive exes, including the one I mentioned in this story, and was told "Yeah he's got problems, don't take it personally." I told a close friend in confidence about a horrendously controlling and emotionally abusive relationship I had just left and was told "I don't believe you. If it was that bad you would have left a long time ago." It's pretty hard to feel powerful and supported when your previous experiences have done a great job of making you feel weak and alone.

My life as a working woman began with me being harassed, groped and ignored when I attempted to seek help. I'll NEVER forget hearing the phrase "it's a man's world." Not just because it came from a woman I respected, but because she was right.

Here are my favorite songs, hope you enjoy them! Feel free to share some of your favorite relaxing songs or playlists in the comments below!

1. This video is AWESOME because it was created to reduce anxiety levels, and it actually works! Read more on that here.

2. I LOVE RAIN NOISES & I LOVE flutes. This is one of my favorites, and I think you'll see why, if you dig rain as well.

3. Did I mention that I love the sound of rain? Well...I do, and here's another dope option with peaceful piano music and rain. I could stare at and listen to this video all day. Many evenings I leave this one on (quietly) while I sleep. I love it.

4. This is one of my favorite songs to wake up with. It's upbeat, peaceful, and there's a fun bonus too. If you watch long enough, eventually you'll see a fun surprise with the cat in the video. ;)

5. This video I like because when I have it up on my tv and I'm cleaning, relaxing or even meditating, it makes me feel like I'm hangin out at a fancy day spa. Don't ask why, that's just what my brain gets out of it. Either way, it's nice and peaceful and soothing.

6. In addition to loving rain, I also love flutes and wind chimes. I have WAY too many (if there is such a thing) wind chime videos saved to playlists. They're a nice go-to for me.

7. I love this one because it's very peaceful and ambient. Some occasional nature noises pop up, but not in a distracting way. Plus, I love the images they chose to rotate through while the music plays.

8. Have I mentioned that I also love water? Cause I do. This one has some dope drumming and the visuals they put together of the water and sky are so pretty and relaxing.

9. This is another great video that I could stare at all day and listen to all day. I just love water, and the way they overlay it is so cool.

What's your topic and who's your audience?

Choosing a topic to podcast about can be easier than you think. Ask yourself a few questions. What are you an expert in? What problem can you solve for someone? Starting a show based on those will give you a better chance of adding value to someone and they will be more likely to share the show with others that it can help. Don’t over think this, I have a Nintendo show that sums up the week’s news for my audience. By tuning in to the show they don’t have to look for articles to see what’s going on so it’s saving them time each day. When choosing a topic I recommend something that’s niche but not too niche. If you plan on being in this for the long haul make sure your topic can sustain that. Covering Nintendo gives me a variety of topics each week, but when I covered only Destiny it made it tough to keep the content fresh and exciting to talk about it week in and week out.

Naming Your Show

Now that you have your topic it’s time to name your show. If you have a decent size audience you’ll have a little more freedom in this area. You could call it (your name) Cast. If you don’t have much of an audience then you need to take advantage of organic search traffic. When I was thinking about starting a Nintendo podcast the Switch was just announced, and few shows were using Switch in their name. I wanted something with a long tail so I went with Nintendo Power Cast. In a couple of days, the show was sixth on the list when searching Nintendo on iTunes. Coming up with a name for your show that people can easily find when searching for a topic will get you more listeners much quicker. If coming up with a name that is easily found isn’t really an option all hope is not lost.

Naming your episodes

The title for each episode should be keyword rich. Keywords are the words people use when searching for something. Each of my episodes includes the names of a couple of games that are covered in the episode. I’m covering all my bases this way. My show is ranking for Nintendo, so my episodes can rank for other keywords. As of writing this my top episode has Animal Crossing in the title, so anyone searching for Animal Crossing will see that episode in the results. Some of this may seem obvious, but I see so many podcasts that only number their episodes and those shows will never show up in search results. No one is searching for episode 32. Having keyword rich titles also applies to YouTube videos, blog posts, and twitch highlights.

Mic Control

Having a good mic is a must for a quality podcast, but a quality mic can still sound like trash if not used properly. You want your lips to be one to two inches from the mic. The further you are from the mic the more it sounds like you’re in a large room. Think about musicians performing live they seem to eat that mic. If your mic is on your desk and you can’t get closer you need to pick a boom stand to get it closer to your mouth. This will improve your sound quality on Twitch and YouTube also. Picking up a decent pop filter will also help improve your sound.

Quality Show Notes

Show notes are where I spend most of my time each week prepping for the show. I created an outline for the show and each segment saved it as a Google doc. As news breaks, I add the stories to my show notes. I don’t write a script that I read word for word, but having an outline keeps me on track and beats just winging it each episode. Quality takes work, but it’s worth it. I used to wing it and it’s fine for a conversational show about random topics, but having an outline has improved the content. If you end up podcasting solo then quality notes are a must, because you don't want to ramble. Each episode I do gets its own blog post and it’s s simple copy and paste from the Google doc to my new post.

If you’re already podcasting hopefully these tips will help you get more eyes and ears on your show. If you’re thinking about starting one you’ll need is hosting I recommend Podbean’s free plan for starting out. I use their unlimited plan for $14.99 a month. I use another site for mixing each episode, removing any hum, and getting the levels radio ready that’s auphonic.com. They offer two hours of processing free each month. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @N64Josh if you have any other podcasting questions. You can check out my show Nintendo Power Cast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and Googleplay.

]]>noreply@mindofsnaps.com (N64Josh)PodcastingMon, 21 May 2018 10:10:23 -0500Maybe We SHOULD Care When We Offend People: My Thoughts on Political Correctnesshttp://www.mindofsnaps.com/blog/item/385-maybe-we-should-care-when-we-offend-people-my-thoughts-on-political-correctness
http://www.mindofsnaps.com/blog/item/385-maybe-we-should-care-when-we-offend-people-my-thoughts-on-political-correctness

I was, I suppose, fortunate (dare I say - privileged), overall, to have been born with the pale skin out of the bunch. I was able to blend in with my surroundings a little more, at least outside of school where I wasn’t known already as someone who wasn’t fully white. My siblings didn’t have that luxury. While we’ve all encountered some form of racial taunting over the years, they got it worst when we were young.

My brother told me of a memory he had resurface recently, where he recalled seeing some kids at our bus stop push my sister down on the ground and then start kicking dirt on her while yelling the word “brownie” over and over. I remember him coming home from school crying on several occasions too, because people would mock him and call him names for having brown skin. I’m not going to bother inserting the names here, but I’m sure you can imagine the types of creative slurs young kids can come up with.

For whatever reason, the common understanding was that since I didn’t “look” Mexican, it was safe to make as racial jokes because I wasn’t a “real” Mexican and therefore didn’t have the right to get offended. I adopted a grin and bear it approach to dealing with these “jokes”, though I never found them to be all that funny in the first place. I always imagined the way my siblings looked when they were picked on for their skin color and it hurt, maybe only a little (because in some cases I do believe there was no malicious intent) maybe only deep down, but it hurt nonetheless. It also took me out of that moment, took me out of being present, and reminded me once again that I was different - that my family was different. It's not a great feeling.

As a young girl and throughout my adult life, I’ve regularly found myself in hobbies or jobs that were male dominated. Unlike my siblings, I never had to experience a moment where I walked into a room and realized I was the only brown face there, but I feel it’s probably somewhat similar to how I felt each time I walked into a room and saw only men’s eyes looking back at me. I can only imagine how much often this feeling of “Oh shit, I’m alone here” hits women of color, especially. I wound up having to bring back that same grin and bear it technique in order to make it through the repetitive, irritating, sometimes low-key and sometimes blatantly sexist “jokes”.

Many of you have probably lived the same experience I have the few times I attempted to speak up for myself and let someone know that I didn’t share their sense of humor. I’d say these are the most common responses I get after telling someone that their joke is not really that funny to me, and may upset others as well.

If I choose to push further, or if I make the mistake of getting upset over it, suddenly I’m labeled as being “triggered”, “hysterical” or “an ice queen”, and I’M the one who is now the burden on the group or conversation for not being able to just chill and let a “simple joke” slide. I know when it comes to black women especially, it’s all too easy for them to be labeled as this grossly inaccurate stereotype of “the angry black woman”, so silence tends to be used in more cases than they’d prefer.

Well, I’ve been thinking about this lately, and I gotta say, I think it's fucking stupid. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why people are so hell bent on being able to say whatever the fuck they want to say without acknowledging that it could hurt someone else. My only assumption at this point is kind of simple: we’ve stopped giving a shit about our fellow man.

I really think people have just gotten so much into that “I hate everybody” mentality that it’s so easy to write off anyone who you don’t agree with. I don’t know that I believe people are fighting for their ability to tell racist, sexist or homophobic jokes strictly because they believe so fervently in their right to free speech. On that same note, I also believe that choosing to omit certain words or phrases from your interactions isn’t actually hindering your free speech in the slightest. In my opinion, that shit barely even qualifies as an inconvenience. It feels a lot more to me like people are fighting for their right to not care about other people.

[If you're not an angry, antagonistic, free-speech-loving, hate-speech-spreading asshat - please note that these next paragraphs aren't being directed at you.]

Seriously though, what is it that you MUST get across and can’t possible do so without access to these words or phrases that you already KNOW are very likely to offend? Why is it so easy for you to stand up for your right to free speech but you are so quick to ignore the speech directed at you that’s really only asking for you to be kinder and more considerate? Why does someone saying the words, "this makes me feel bad" upset you so? Why isn't that all you have to hear before you check yourself? Why don't you care?

I’ve started to work hard on understanding myself and the people around me which has lead me down a path that includes a great deal of empathy-boosting habits. Since I started actively challenging myself to see things from perspectives other than my own, I’ve started to naturally empathize with people more. Even the people who I previously may have been irritated or bothered by don't phase me these days. It’s my belief that we’re all incredibly complex people living our own lives filled with our own unique challenges and struggles. Take a moment to really look at the next person you encounter today. Try to imagine what they’re going through, in great detail. Everyone is fighting their own battles, and one of my new goals lately has been to attempt to reduce the amount of negativity I put out into the world - especially any that I would have been inclined to direct at a person or group.

I ask myself, “could this hurt someone?” before moving forward, not because I am heavily censored due to people voicing their frustrations more frequently, but because I wouldn’t want to be hurt, so I try not to hurt others or bring them down. Saying things like, “that’s retarded” may seem so innocent to you that you want to fight for the right to use it, but consider the person who lives with a disabled child, or a disabled person's feelings for a second. Imagine all the times that someone likely called them or someone they love that name out of hostility or ignorance. Sure, maybe you’re not saying it in “that way”, so it isn’t actually offensive - but the word itself brings back memories of negative interactions for many, so why bother using it? There are tons of alternatives.

This obviously applies to racial slurs as well. Maybe you said the n-word just because you thought it was funny, maybe you said it because you think it should be no big deal because it’s in rap songs or what-the-fuck-ever-reason you’ve come up with. Either way, you’ve said a word that has a LONG, like crazy fucking long, history of being used to demean and oppress others. Maybe you meant it as a simple (but incredibly stupid) joke, but you’ve likely just added on to a lifetime of bullshit and unkindness associated with that word. All for what? To make another person with an equally shitty sense of humor laugh?

I understand that some comedians as well as a bunch of non-funny, regular ol’ assholes are feeling like they can’t tell ANY jokes these days without offending people. Maybe that’s true, maybe we are over sensitive these days. Maybe, just maybe it’s something else though...

This makes me think of how one of my previous relationships ended. I was in a relationship with someone who was very controlling, angry and incredibly opinionated. In addition to being controlling of my speech, behavior and activities, he regularly made me the butt of his jokes. I expressed countless times that I didn’t like some of the things he said or did, but never pushed it because he would either insist it was all in good fun and I was making a big deal of nothing, or he’d react with anger and it would turn into a huge battle (which I usually lost). In order to avoid fights or being told I was the one bringing down fun situations, I just learned to shut up about pretty much everything he said or did that bothered me. Since I didn't have much self-esteem at the time, it was easy for me to imagine what he was saying was what everyone else was also thinking, so even if I did try to stand up for myself more, I imagined I'd be standing alone.

Eventually, I wound up gaining some self-worth and started to realize this wasn’t the type of life I wanted or deserved to be stuck living. I started standing up for myself more and more. I wasn’t trying to start fights, so I always tried to voice my concerns in a calm and rational way, but I wound up voicing these concerns regularly as the days went on. I was told that I had changed, that I was just trying to start fights because everything he had been doing had “never bothered me before” and now suddenly I was "super combative" and "seemed to have a problem with everything".

I was accused of being over-sensitive. In reality, I wasn’t being over-sensitive. I was just fed up. I was tired of being the butt of the jokes that I didn’t like, and I was tired of being mocked and hearing the same shit day in and day out. I was just straight up OVER IT.

So this brings me back to why I believe you’re starting to see so many people actively campaigning against and boycotting people/brands that cross the line. Maybe, it’s not that this society has suddenly been replaced by a mass of ultra sensitive cry-babies, MAYBE you’re just hearing about it more because suddenly all these people who didn’t feel they had a voice are realizing that they have more support than they realized. Maybe, it’s that these devalued and marginalized groups are starting to see some progress and are finally being viewed as real fucking people with feelings. These same people are starting to stand up for themselves and it’s upsetting the folks who can’t stop themselves from making jokes at the expense of others.

While I’m halfway sorry that your once-funny jokes seem to always fall flat these days, maybe the issue isn’t with society. Perhaps you’ve actually been an unfunny asshole your whole life and this is simply the first time you’ve actually listened when we told you so. Maybe your jokes were well received previously because you always dropped them in rooms predominately filled with people who've been fortunate enough to live lives free from oppression. Maybe it's time for you to take a moment to feel sorry for someone other than yourself and acknowledge that your words have meaning. You could be using them to uplift and spread messages of love, but instead you're choosing to fight a battle for the right to be a prick.

I think it's time to direct that energy elsewhere. Imagine all the ways you could be positively impacting this world if you could just pull your head out of your ass and start treating others the way you'd want to be treated.

I normally try to stay away from saying things like, "It really is that simple", because I know not everyone will interpret things the same way I do, or understand things the way that I or another person may understand them. I get it. However, in this instance, I gotta say, it really is that fucking simple. Just try to not be a dick, for a day even, and see how much your day is impacted. My bet is that your day will continue on the way it always does, except maybe this time someone else won't be suffering in silence over words that you could have just skipped.

To summarize:

The world isn't over-sensitive, you're just being an entitled dickhead. Stop being a dickhead. Be nice to people, it's not that hard.